Re: [boost] [Boost Review] Property tree review

From: Bronek Kozicki (brok_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-04-29 17:01:41

Stephen Dolan wrote:
> The proposed property tree library uses a small internal language which is
> passed to the various functions, for instance:
> 
> file = ptree.get<std::string>("config.filename");
> 
> Personally, I don't think its a good idea to define new syntaxes and pass
> them around as strings. It would be a bit more effort to implement, but I
> think (something like) the following would be preferable:
> 
> file = ptree.get<std::string>["config"]["filename"]

I strongly agree with this point. In case I do not find time for a full 
review, this is the most important thing that I'd point out. I'd also like to 
add that there should be clear distinction between nodes and leafes, eg.
   operator() (T t) - returns leaf (I do not insist on syntax)
   operator() [T t] - returns node

thus:
   file = ptree.get<std::string>["config"]["filename"];
would mean 'take whatever default value there is for node "filemane" which 
belongs to node "config"'; while:
   file = ptree.get<std::string>["config"]("filename");
would mean 'take value "filemane" which belongs to node "config"'.

I'm fairly familiar with problem domain, as I implemented similar structure 
with rich interface for commercial product (the structure served as kind of 
DOM storage for EDIFACT documents).

B.